


Every Friday Night

by arizonasnow



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Cheerleader El, Cheerleader/Football Player AU, Dustin/Max is a thing, El joins their group eventually, F/M, Homecoming, Quarterback Mike, The boys are nerds, Will is Bisexual, Will is a player, smut towards the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-12-31 01:58:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arizonasnow/pseuds/arizonasnow
Summary: El Hopper is a cheerleader. Mike Wheeler is a quarterback. They may not talk much in school, but sparks fly under those Friday night lights.





	1. The Cheer Captain

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: BACKGROUND CHARACTER COMMITTED SUICIDE BEFORE THE STORY BEGAN

El could feel a sweat beginning to form on the back of her neck as she lead the group of cheerleaders around the track for their third lap during conditioning. She didn't want to run, of course, but as the JV captain, she didn't have a choice. The coach had given a set of conditioning instructions and she was there to make sure everyone followed them. She was breathing gently but noticed some of the girls were having trouble keeping up, so she slowed the group down until they could catch up. While they were making their way over, she couldn't help but look over as the JV football team rowdily made their way onto the field, clearly hyped for practice.

She watched as some of the girls jogged noticeably faster and then she was able to finish the lap with them, and a small smirk appeared on her lips. Football players and cheerleaders. The ultimate cliché. El herself had never had a boyfriend, and she didn't think she was going to get one anytime soon. She was the girl that every guy looked at but were too scared to talk to. Even funnier, she never noticed. Her best friend, Max, always made sure to comment who was staring at her and at what time, but she always shook it off. She didn't understand her own beauty.

El got the girls together while they finished running and they walked onto the track to complete their stretches. The brunette cheer captain couldn't help but feel the football players' eyes burning into her entire squad while they leaned into their pikes and stretched their lunges. She always hated the way they would cat call her and the other cheerleaders, and sometimes they'd pull their ponytails when they'd run by or wolf-whistle. She watched as they practiced since, as a captain, she was the one facing the field while the girls faced her, mirroring her stretches. She couldn't help but grin as she slid into her splits and saw one of the quarterbacks fumble a play when they locked eyes. 

El wasn't a player, but she wasn't going to go easy on these guys. If they had to understand one thing, it was that stretching was innocent. Cheerleaders did jumps and acrobatic things, so it was no big deal. None of the others girls cared about it, and they hadn't been lucky enough to have any guys try out that year. There were two boys on the varsity cheer squad, though, and they didn't exactly have it easy, especially with social media constantly calling them gay. However, El made sure her entire squad knew that they had to protect everyone, even if they weren't members of the same group. El made it very clear that if they ever saw someone really struggling, they'd stick up for them. Cheerleaders had a certain reputation that made it easy for them to get what they wanted, but at Hawkins High School they didn't really have bad intentions. They mostly just used their cheerleading positions as a social stepladder, but it came in handy when they saw kids being bullied.

El's childhood best friend, Will, had been bullied a lot in middle school, and she learned not to take any of the crap from the bullies. Her father was the Chief of Police, so she had a strong sense of justice, and always stood up for him. After he learned to ignore his bullies and they eventually went away, she moved on to help other kids who were being tormented in the hallways. People knew not to mess with El, or they'd have the entire cheerleading squad after them, and with the cheer squad came the football team, and everybody loved the football team.

Hawkins was a small town, so the sports teams they had were a big deal. Everyone loved going to a family friendly football game and the team had been sponsored multiple times by small businesses around the city right outside. It was a gem amidst some of the bigger cities in Indiana, especially for college scouts, and El knew that one of them would be at the upcoming game on Friday. It was currently Thursday, the normal practice schedule was going right along.

She snapped out of her trance and got out of her split, and the others did the same. She began going over cheers with them while she saw Max sitting in the bleachers out of the corner of her eye. She gave her a light smile while the girls broke off into their stunt groups a few minutes later, working on extensions and cradles as well as needles for the more experienced flyers. El was a flyer, but she had been a cheerleader since she was young, taking it as a hobby that she enjoyed doing. She could've gone professional, but she decided to stay at a high school level in fear of leaving her friends behind and becoming consumed by the world of competitive cheerleading. Instead, she stuck with doing what she loved and in the way she knew how to do it.

As soon as she knew it, practice was over, and she was carrying her bag with her into the locker room as an excited Max followed after her, climbing down from the bleachers to tap her best friend on the shoulder. "Ellie!" She gasped and the brunette in mention turned her head with a light smile.

"Yeah, Max?" She asked, watching her red-headed friend pull out her phone and begin scrolling through her Snapchat story before eventually pulling up a picture of a curly haired boy making a goofy face in a dressing room wearing a tuxedo. El gasped and grinned, slapping Max on the back. "Dustin got his tux?" She asked.

Max grinned back and nodded. "Yeah. We coordinated the colors. He's going to wear a purple tie to go with my purple dress." She giggled loosely, referring to her boyfriend, Dustin Henderson, who was a Sophomore, while she and El were Freshman. He had asked her to the Homecoming dance in front of the entire school a mere week before, with flowers and balloons and a beautiful guitar serenade, and Max had cried while hugging him, screaming yes, and having the entire quad burst into applause. El remembered scraping Max off of her curly-haired boyfriend so that they wouldn't be late to class, but the girl was practically boneless after that. 

El figured she wouldn't get asked to the Homecoming Dance by anyone good. She decided that if she didn't, it was no big deal, and she'd just go with a group of freshman cheerleaders who were already planning on going with eachother as friends instead of with other boys. One girl dropped from the group last minute after asking her girlfriend and El remembered the other three fawning over the recently out-of-the-closet couple. They were cute, El admitted, and she was jealous. Well, El was jealous of many couples. She wanted to have a relationship, but she remembered that she had priorities, like biology tests and learning new cheer routines. Not worrying over boys. 

She listened as Max drawled on and on about how excited she was and how the dress fit her perfectly. El couldn't remember the last time she went shopping for a dress. Probably in sixth grade for the cotillion dance that had gone very far downhill. She'd been dancing with one of the guys in her grade after he asked her, and she wasn't allowed to say no, so it was quite awkward, and El decided after that she didn't like dances anymore. Her dad made her go to some of them, like the eighth grade formal, and she had sat in the corner the whole time with another one of the girls who ended up on the cheer squad talking about boy problems while Max and Dustin made out in the corner as Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper blared on the speakers.

She didn't have a choice this year, though. She had to go to Homecoming. Someone had anonymously nominated her for the title of "Lady", which was like a Homecoming Queen, but for a Freshman. She didn't know who had done it, but she was afraid she'd actually win. She was pretty popular, so she'd get quite a few votes, and she didn't know who the competition was. She also didn't know who the "Lord" was, who was like the Homecoming King as a Freshman. Rumor had it the quarterback had been nominated by his friend and one of the boys in the art club nominated himself, as well as the school bully, Troy Harrington. She didn't really know who was going to win on that side but she assumed it'd be Troy. 

Still, that didn't mean she was going to vote for him. She recalled the day before scribbling down a random name that someone else had written down next to her and popping it into the box. She still didn't remember who she voted for, but she would've known if it had been Troy. The name started with an M? Or maybe it was an N or a K? 

Finally she reached the locker room, changing out of her practice uniform and into a pair of black leggings and an oversized orange hoodie that her father had gotten for her at a burger shop as a souvenir when he'd gone to San Fransisco on a business trip.It was the most comfortable thing she owned, and she was leaving practice, so it wasn't like she needed to impress anyone. Nope, a simple hoodie, leggings, and a pair of adidas superstars would have to do. Besides, it was technically trendy.

Max had left because she had to get home for dinner with her family, but El felt her phone buzz in her pocket moments after Max left. She picked it up and saw a new message, rolling her eyes as a small grin appeared on her face.

-

M: ELLIEEEEE

E: yes max? lmao.

M: OKAY DON’T KILL ME

M: BUT

M: DUSTIN WANTS TO SET YOU UP WITH HIS FRIEND

E: oh my god max nooooo

M: HEAR ME OUT?? HE’S A QUARTERBACK AND NOT THAT BAD ON THE EYES!

E: nope, absolutely not

M: Fine, El. But you know I’m not letting you to go Homecoming all by yourself.

-

El rolled her eyes lightly, shutting her phone off. Of course Max was going to make her find a date, but she wanted to at least find him on her own. There was no way she was trusting Max to play matchmaker. She'd done that once in seventh grade and the guy had been awful. El didn't really know who she'd take. Nobody had asked her, but she wasn't about to go ask a random guy either. She decided she'd wait until the week before homecoming, and if someone hadn't asked her by then, she'd just ask someone decent. There was a guy in her fourth period English class who wasn't that bad...

El was interrupted from her thoughts when Joyce Byers' honked the horn on her car, waving. El looked up to see the woman call out to her. "El! Your dad asked me to take you to town with Will and I. We're going to look for Homecoming clothes!" The older woman called. El looked over to see her son in the front seat, blushing fifty shades of red. Everyone knew he didn't want to go to Homecoming either, but both of their parents had agreed to have their children go. Not together, of course.

El smiled back and walked over. "Alright, thanks Joyce." She greeted as she got into the back of the car, putting on her seatbelt. They were all on a first name basis by now, she'd known eachother since before El was born. Hopper had been born and raised in Hawkins but went to college a few hours away, leaving behind his old friends. Then, he moved back right after he found out El had been born to take care of her. Hopper wasn't El's biological father- he was technically her uncle, but he never said anything. Joyce was sworn to secrecy to keep El from knowing about her real mother.

Terry Ives had done so many drugs in her lifetime that she didn't even realize she was pregnant. After she gave birth to the baby, her sister, Becky, called their other brother, Jim. He was a step-brother and immediately came in to take the baby from Terry so she wouldn't do anything stupid. The woman had first gone crazy in the 90s and Hopper still remembered seeing the little girl's face on November 7, 2002. She had the softest brown eyes he'd ever seen and a little bit of the most adorable peach fuzz on top of her head.

Terry Ives committed suicide three days after her daughter was born. She got up from her hospital bed, wandered down the hallway, pushed open a window, and jumped. Hopper and Becky didn't know what to do, so Hopper took legal custody of the child and raised her on his own. It was hard, but the two had a strong bond. As for Becky, she sort of disappeared. She left Hawkins and stopped talking to her step-brother. After that, Hopper vowed to keep El's family a secret from her. It would've been too hard for her to deal with.

In present time, El was sitting in the backseat having a text conversation with Will, who was in the front. There were some things that couldn't be said in front of Joyce, so they used their phones instead.

-

Will: El oh my god you missed it

El: what?

Will: Lucas asked his girlfriend out in front of the entire quad after school. It was cute af.

El: lol nice. what did he do?

Will: he whipped out a giant poster and tried to sing whitney houston. i think i got it on video lmao.

El: lmfao!! did she say yes?

Will: omg obviously el

-

Will turned around and grinned at El, who was smirking right back at him. Although the two didn't hang out as much during the school day, since they had different classes, after school they were almost inseparable, except when Will was hanging out with his other friends. El didn't know them too well, but two of them were on the football team. She didn't really know them but she did know Lucas- the two somewhat got along. Then she knew Dustin, of course, because he was Max's boyfriend, and then there was one more guy who was kind of quiet amongst the group and wasn't always with them.

Apparently two of them were on the football team- she already knew Lucas was, he was number 19, and then the other guy who she couldn't quite remember. A thought dawned on her then. She had to be escorted on the homecoming court by a football player, just like the football players had to be escorted by a cheerleader. Perfect! She didn't have to go desperately searching for a date because there was a chance that whichever football player was running for Homecoming Lord didn't have a date and the two could escort eachother. It didn't have to be romantic, they could just do it and then when Homecoming came around they'd go their separate ways and find their own friends or dates. El found a satisfied grin appear on her lips.

Joyce parked the car a few minutes later, snapping El out of her thoughts. They'd arrived at the mall in the middle of town and it was time for the dreaded fittings for El's dress and Will's tuxedo. Joyce excitedly dragged the two kids inside, and began to head to the men's section after telling El and Will they could hang out wherever as long as they met by the fitting rooms in twenty minutes. So, the two headed to the women's section to see the colorful array of dresses. Will preferred tagging along with El because he wasn't exactly ecstatic about searching for a tuxedo. He didn't even want to go.

"Hey, is everything okay, with Adam and all?" El asked, getting Will's attention.

The boy turned to her, shaking his head. "No... we uh, we broke up two weeks ago." He said with a shrug.

El nodded. "Oh, sorry... I thought you two were just fighting."

Will shook his head. "Nope. He was being a dick because he didn't know what to tell his father. Anyways, I asked Jennifer Hayes to go to Homecoming with me and she said yes." He answered, shrugging off the news of his breakup like it was no big deal.

El knew about Will's sexuality. It had been a quiet thing at first but eventually he came out as bisexual and El told him that she already knew it. They had talked that afternoon about how he was afraid to come out to his friends and the next day El had shown up and the entire cheer squad wore purple, pink, and blue practice gear. Nobody except El and Will knew why. El was always there for Will after that, and no one dared mess with someone under her protection.

She had remembered how he felt guilty about having a little, tiny crush on Jennifer Hayes, a girl in their grade, while he was still dating Adam. El had said to shrug it off and pretend it wasn't there. Apparently that was bad advice because now they were going to Homecoming together. They'd already coordinated their outfits and everything.

El had three dresses that Will was either going to approve or turn down. They had all been no's so far. The two were searching through the racks to find something that would not just make El cute, but beautiful. El wasn't searching for something that was going to be too attention-seeking, but Will sure as hell was. He wanted his friend to be the belle of the ball that night.

Suddenly he pulled out the most incredible dress El had ever seen and she nodded rapidly as they ran off to the dressing rooms to try it on. Joyce saw as they rounded the corner and she gasped lightly, nearly dropping the tuxedos she had been holding for Will to try on.

"Oh my god, El, sweetie, that's beautiful!" Joyce praised, smiling widely. "Here, go try it on!" She said, opening the door. El smiled and hurried inside, changing into the dress.

She emerged from the room and both mother and son gasped in unison, looking to eachother before staring back at the girl and nodding rapidly. "That's the one, El-Bell!" Will said, using his nickname for her. She grinned, a light blush spreading on her cheeks. 

After a while Will got his tuxedo and El used the money that Hopper had given Joyce to buy her dress. The whole group grabbed some to-go burgers from Benny's Burgers, the local diner, before dropping El off at home and the Byers heading their separate way.

El greeted her father that night and hung her dress up in her room, biting her lip. She was going to make that night the best one of her life.


	2. The Quarterback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Mike Wheeler...

Mike Wheeler walked out of the boy's locker room wearing his Jersey proudly, the blue, black, and white uniform resting over his football pads. One of his best friends ran up behind him, slapping him on the back as football players usually did to eachother, his eyes happily bouncing with energy that seemed to be flowing through his whole body. Mike couldn't remember the last time he saw his friend that excited- maybe when the latest Star Wars movie came out a while before.

"Mike, I can't believe she said yes!" Lucas squealed like a toddler who'd just woken up on Christmas morning. 

Mike chuckled and turned to face his friend. "Why? You two have been going out for like... three months. And it was about damn time you asked her in my oh-so humble opinion." He said with a grin, mock-bowing. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well, what about you bud? Are you going to go with that girl Dustin wants to set you up with?" The dark-skinned boy asked as the two walked past the cheerleaders, who were running around the track, and onto the football field to do their own warmups.

Mike shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. I don't even know who it is so probably not, unless she's really great." He said nonchalantly. He wasn't really worried about his Homecoming date. He'd probably ask one of the cheerleaders to escort him and go because there really wasn't anything else he could do. None of the girls at the school noticed he existed until all of a sudden he whipped out his football skills and became the quarterback. He didn't trust them for that reason. A lot of the girls were either fake or already dating... or knew about his nerdy middle school self. He still was a nerd, but now he was a football player, so it was considered "cute". 

He joined Lucas on the field as the other football players jogged after them to catch up, and Mike glanced over to see the JV Cheer Captain sliding into her splits. They locked eyes for a second before a blush creeped over his cheeks and he turned away, looking back to see her grinning at him through a pair of curious brown eyes a few seconds later. He groaned under his breath.  _Nice job, Wheeler. Now she thinks you're a creep._ He thought to himself.

Apparently he wasn't the only one who had been staring. A few boys passed by, gossiping about the cheerleaders like little kids. "Damn, El Hopper, huh? Are you going to ask her?" One guy asked, talking to Troy, who was a linebacker. He was clearly deep in thought. Or, however deep his shallow mind could even get, which wasn't very deep.

"I think so. I just don't know when." He said. Mike grinned to himself.

Troy had been his bully in middle school and now he had a clear position of authority over him. He nearly squealed in joy as he thought about ruining the boy's chances to ask the JV Cheer Captain to Homecoming. Mike wasn't exactly one to start drama, but if someone did something involving him or his friends that was bad, he could get extremely petty, especially with someone he really didn't like. And Mike HATED Troy.

He planned on telling El or whatever her name was about Troy's plans the next practice, before he would have a chance to ask. Mike grinned as the coach began yelling out the warmups.

Practice ended and he watched as the cheerleaders all left, El trailing at the end to go talk to Max. He tilted his head, seeing the cheer captain talking to his best friend's girlfriend, but he remembered that they were best friends. Apparently she was pretty cool, according to Dustin. He remembered hearing something about her being friends with Will as well, but from childhood. Mike himself had never actually hung out with her without Will around, and they never all hung out together. 

He watched as the girls left and then went back into the boy's locker room, changing into his clothes and leaving. He saw Will's mom's car pull up and waved at his friend quickly before shooting him a quick text and getting his bicycle off of the rack so he could head home.

The bike ride back to his house wasn't awful, but it was long and annoying. He wasn't made fun of for riding a bike or anything, but it wasn't exactly "fun" anymore. He used to go on long rides with his friends and race through the quiet suburb roads where no one ever drove, but with football practice, it was harder and harder to hang out with them on weekdays. Lucas lived near him but was on a date with his girlfriend that afternoon, so they couldn't ride home together. 

He parked his bike inside of the garage and walked in through the door, immediately heading down to the basement to get a head start on his homework. The basement was his haven, his thinking place. It had once been his father's man-cave, but his parents had gotten divorced a few months prior and he lived in an apartment in the city, so the basement became Mike's. He had practically lived down there before, anyways, having his friends over to play nerd-games and watch movies on the flat-screen television that they'd recently installed down there.

He slung his backpack onto the coach and flopped down there as well, sighing softly as he went over his list of assignments in his mind. Algebra homework... a lab report in biology... a test in history. It would take him an hour and a half tops. So, he opened up his bag and began scribbling notes in his algebra homework's margins, finishing that quickly. Next he had to tackle his lab report, which was slightly more boring and time consuming.

He walked over to the desk and turned on the family desktop. He had his own laptop, but he didn't feel like going all the way upstairs to his room to get it, so instead he would simply type up his report and print it down there. He felt his fingers click against the keys as he typed his hypothesis and answered the questions his teacher had assigned. Mrs. Hawthorn was a killer when it came to lab reports. 

He found himself nearly falling asleep thirty minutes later while he was going through history flashcards. Suddenly, his phone illuminated, vibrated, and chimed beside him and woke him from his haze. Mike looked down, a light frown gracing his features. 

-

Will: yo mike i was wondering if i could come chill?

Mike: yeah, sure

Mike: how was your tux fitting dude?

Will: lmao good. el got a dress, it looked amazing

Mike: el's your friend with the brown hair right?

Will: yes duh i've introduced you like... three times x'D

Mike: lmao oops

Will: okay well i'm gonna head over now, i'll see you soon

Mike: k. do you want to stay for dinner? my mom said we could order pizza anyways because she's busy working.

Will: yesssss, i'll be over in ten

Mike: k

-

Mike grinned to himself. Will was coming over and that gave him an idea: Will's date, Jennifer Hayes, knew a lot of girls. Undoubtedly some would be attractive and on the cheer squad. He'd just ask Will to get her to hook him up. No big deal, right?

Wrong. The second Will got over and he asked, he was greeted with one answer.

"You should ask El!" Will said, his eyes glimmering excitedly.

Mike shrugged. "Nah... I um, I don't really know her." He said, trying to come up with an excuse. He barely knew the girl!

Will rolled his eyes. "Mike, what on earth do you have to lose? She's the JV cheer captain... you're the JV quarterback... sounds like a good match to me. Besides, you both have one link already, and that's me. I know you both like the back of my hand. Between me, Max, and Dustin, we've all been waiting for this relationship to happen since the middle of last year but both of you were too pussy to do anything."

Mike blushed crimson. "Wait what?! Have you been trying to set me up with her?" He asked, looking nervous.

Will grinned. "Well duh. Why else would we be running around like chickens with our heads cut off to get your class schedules?" He asked.

Mike cursed internally. He remembered when both Will and Max had approached him one day asking for his schedule in the beginning of the year and he'd hesitantly shown them the paper. They were comparing his to another one, which he assumed was their own.

Mike realized he couldn't not answer Will. "Alright, maybe." He said, sighing.

Will grinned. "Yesss! Oh my god, I'll keep it a surprise, don't worry." He said, bouncing up and down lightly.

Mike glared a little bit. "I said MAYBE!" He repeated.

Yep. He'd definitely gotten himself into a mess this time. He watched as Will texted something to a group chat called "LET THE SHIP SAIL" and realized that there was definitely no turning back now.


	3. Football Games and Waffle Plates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the night of the last football game before Homecoming and Mike realized he's got his eyes on something besides the ball. Will he get it together to see his team score?

El walked through the hallways the next day feeling great. She had her dress and felt confident and absolutely incredible in it. There was nothing better. She and Will had been planning on going to Homecoming as friends for a while in case of emergency, but now that he had a date she had to find one on her own. She'd been going over methods in her head but she decided on waiting to see which one of the football players would end up being her beau for the night.

So far no one was interesting her. School had just ended and she was going to the gym to work on posters for the game while some of the football players helped out as well. It wasn't required but it showed team spirit and wasn't a bad way to socialize. She opened the doors and saw the familiar tiger mural painted on the wall as she watched the girls sporting their cheer uniforms and the guys in their football jerseys, mingling as they painted eachother's faces for the game night and dragged blue and black markers across the large pieces of butcher paper that they were currently making into posters. El walked over to a group of cheerleaders and smoothed down her uniform before one of them asked her to paint her face.

El smiled and picked up the puff paint, doing a design over the girl's eyes in multicolored dots. El, however, was determined to earn something else on her face that night. A number. Girls wore a number under their left eye to symbolize a football player. Some girls did it for their friends, others for their boyfriends. El didn't know who's number she'd be wearing that night, but she wanted to have one there so it at least looked like she was a step closer to getting her date to the game.

Right as she was putting the puff paint away a large hand tapped her shoulder. She turned around to face a boy- no doubt drop-dead handsome. He had dark, raven-black curls and amber-brown eyes as well as freckles dappling against his cheeks. El recognized him- it was the quarterback who'd been watching her at practice! But wait... he was oddly familiar. She knew she hadn't just seen him for the first time the other day.

He gave her a quick grin before looking over at the other girls. "Hey, mind if I borrow El?" He asked. The girls nodded rapidly, smirking together while this mystery guy lead El over to some paper and the two began to work on a poster together. El could hear the girls in the background talking about how he was probably going to ask her. She felt her cheeks heat up.

She began to get out the markers and felt as if she was being stared at. She looked up to meet the guy's incredible gaze. She felt frozen in time. Nothing had ever felt so... right.

"I'm uh, I'm Mike by the way. We've met a few times at Will's place." He said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and giving her a lopsided smile.

El smiled back. "I'm El. Yeah, he's talked about you before. I think we last saw eachother... wait was it Will's twelfth or thirteenth birthday?" She asked.

Mike grinned, chuckling lightly. "I don't know, but it's been too long if you ask me." He said, a light blush creeping onto his cheeks.  _Oh for fuck's sake Wheeler, get to the damn point. Get to KNOW her._

El smiled back. "Definitely." She responded with a soft voice that Mike felt was beginning to make him  _melt_. Not yet, but he could tell if this whole Homecoming thing didn't work, they'd definitely be friends.

El was beginning to write "Tiger Pride" on the poster. She was thinking to herself while doing so, and Mike moved over to be on the same side as her so they could decorate the letters together instead of him just staring at her awkwardly while she wrote.

Suddenly she peeped up. "Hey, do you ever wonder why our colors are blue and black while our mascot is a damn tiger? The colors don't many any sense..." She muttered. Mike chuckled lightly.

"I have no idea. Now that you mention it, it really doesn't make any sense." He replied. 

After about ten more minutes of bumbling around and having an interesting conversation, Mike watched Troy saunter into the gym, holding a poster under his arm. Without a doubt it was a Homecoming proposal. He nudged El. "Hey, I think Troy Harrington's about to ask you to Homecoming." He whispered.

She turned to him, scrunching her nose. "Really? Jesus I thought I made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with him after he called Will a... well, you know what he said. How do you know?" She asked.

Mike nodded lightly. "Because he was talking about it yesterday. If you don't want to go with him I can come up with an excuse for you. He's literally right there." He said quietly.

El looked at him with relief in her eyes. "Oh my god, Mike. I barely know you and you're already saving my social life from falling to pieces. You know what... hold on. I know how to scare him off." She said before getting up, running across the gym, grabbing the puff paint and running back.

"Mike, what's your number?" El asked, opening the bottles of paint quickly before Troy noticed. His eyes widened.

"You want to wear my number?" Mike asked, blushing lightly.

El grinned. "Duh. Now come on, write it on my cheek. He sees that and he's definitely gone." She said, sounding satisfied.

Mike chuckled. "You are diabolical, El."

El smirked back. "You know you like it, Mike."

He couldn't deny that as he rested his hand against her cheek to give his shaking digits leverage while he wrote the number 83 on her smooth skin before sitting back and letting the paint dry. 

Mike turned to see Troy awkwardly backing away while rubbing the back of his neck and also to avoid El seeing the blush on his cheeks after he touched her face.

After Troy awkwardly walked out of the gym, Mike and El turned to eachother before bursting into fits of giggles. In the end, Mike was wiping a stray tear from his face after laughing and El was clutching her aching sides.

"Oh my god that was hilarious!" 

"Did you see the look on his face?"

"El he was so pissed!"

"Mike, we did it!"

They were mainly focused on eachother, and not the rage of their own pounding hearts. Suddenly the football coach came into the gym and blew his whistle, signaling call time for the football players to get out onto the field. Mike gave El a small wave and she returned it, the two smiling warmly at eachother.

An hour and a half later everyone was on the field, looking around. The cheerleaders were standing on the track, with their pom-poms in hand, waiting for the signal to begin their first cheer. El stood in the front and turned around to instruct the girls, calling out cheers as they began. She turned around and performed for the crowd, seeing her best friend Max in the front alongside Will and Dustin. 

The football players were hustling around, getting ready to start their first play.

When the cheer was finished, El turned around to watch the beginning play, seeing number 83 lined up next to number 19, who she recognized as Lucas. She watched as suddenly the ball was passed and then the next thing she knew, Mike was sprinting, his long legs tearing up grass below him as his cleats dug up the dirt. El bit her lip as he was nearly tackled, but suddenly the first play became the first touchdown of the game and El started a rally amongst the cheerleaders, screaming "LET'S GO NUMBER 83" at the top of her lungs.

During the end of the second quarter El caught Mike's glance and the two froze in time before El remembered she had to call out a cheer. Meanwhile Mike nearly got trampled by football players while they ran across the field to go to the locker room for a review on plays.

And just like that, the game was over. Mike and Lucas were drenched in sweat and were drying themselves off with towels. Lucas had gone off to the side and engaged in a passionate kiss with his girlfriend, Hannah Morrison. Will, Dustin, and Max had already gotten El and were slowly but surely dragging her over to where Mike was. After a few minutes she just went with it.

They all had a few laughs regarding Troy's huge fumble and how he'd nearly cost the team a loss, but they won due to Mike's second touchdown at the game towards the end. El and Mike met gazes at least seven times within ten minutes of that conversation before suddenly he opened his mouth and suggested that they all go to Benny's Burgers for a post-game celebratory meal.

El smiled. "I would, but I don't have any money or a mode of transportation." She said, a little bit embarrassed.

Mike shrugged. "No problem. I'll pay. You can ride on the back of my bike if you want." He suggested.

El looked up at him. "Are you sure? I can pay you back on Monday." She said, her eyes gleaming under the stadium lights.

The raven-haired boy chuckled. "Absolutely not. There's nothing wrong with buying a pretty girl something to eat after a football game." He blurted out, not even realizing what he had said.

El's face turned fifty shades of crimson before she smiled softly. "You're not so bad yourself, hot-shot." She replied, their eyes locking.

Will, Lucas, Hannah, Dustin, and Max didn't need to communicate at all. They knew what was happening, and Dustin and Max suddenly got a notification.

-

"LET THE SHIP SAIL"

-

Will: OH. MY. GOD. IT'S. HAPPENING.

Dustin: Dude this is crazy oh my god

Max: IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG HOLY SHIT

Dustin: this is MENTAL

Will: AHHHHHHHH

Max: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Dustin: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!111!!!!1!!!11!!!!!!!1

-

El and Mike walked in front on their way to the bike rack to get Mike's bike. They were in a conversation together, grinning and laughing lightly every few minutes. Lucas and Hannah parted ways before all four of them were on their phones.

-

"LET THE SHIP SAIL"

-

Lucas was added to the group chat.

-

Lucas: what is this?

Will: um we've been shipping mike and el for a while and now they've met and they're obviously going to go to homecoming and shit

Max: yeah we've been trying to get them together for like

Dustin: weeks

Dustin: months

Dustin: idk how long but its been too long and now it's finally paying of because they're cute together

Lucas: what???

Lucas: why

Lucas: haven't

Lucas: you

Lucas: added

Lucas: me

Dustin: Jesus slow down Lucas

Lucas: to

Lucas: this

Lucas: group

Max: LUCAS CHILLLLLLLL

Lucas: chat

Lucas: sooner???????????!?!?!?!?!?

Will: lmao lucas chill

Will: we figured you'd be all like "oh give them space, give them time"

Lucas: lmao hell no we need to get them together TONIGHT

Lucas: i will literally do anything to help you

Max: is it time?

Will: heck yeah

Dustin: HELL YEAH MY REDHEADED BEAUTY WHO IS GOOD AT PLOTTING

Max: lmao shut up dustin youre adorable

Lucas: you two can be cute later we have POEPLE TO WORRY ABOUT

Dustin: *people

Lucas: WHATEVER

Will: Guys.

Will: It's time

Max: Launch plan El+Mike HOCO 2017?

Dustin: Let's engage

-

El had seated herself behind Mike on his bike while Lucas, Will, and Dustin were on theirs, Mike opting out to take her skateboard. 

"I can keep up!" She had argued. Dustin just chuckled.

The group made it to Benny's quickly and all sat down at one of the larger group tables, Mike and El sitting in the corner while Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Will sat around them. They would realize later that the others had trapped them inside a barricade meant to secure a new relationship.

They ordered- Mike and El having a play-fight over her paying him back and eventually El giving in and letting Mike pay for her.

They got their meals and it was simple- they would enjoy some food to celebrate their victory and then head home. 

But noooooo. Apparently there was something bigger going on.

"So, El, are you going to homecoming with anyone?" Lucas asked, grinning.

El turned away from her chocolate milkshake. "Oh, uh, no... why?" She asked, looking up at him.

Will smirked. "Well... I mean, Mike isn't either... you two could..."

Mike and El blushed immediately. Mike started rambling before he gave up and just turned to El. She looked over at him and they locked eyes.

"El, um... do you want to go to homecoming with me?" He asked. Suddenly Benny, the restaurant owner appeared out of nowhere, dropping a plate of waffles in front of the group. There was a piece of paper attached that said:

"El-

You're WAFFLEY cute!

HOCO?

-Mike"

Mike turned absolutely cherry red before glaring daggers at Will, who was grinning from ear to ear while the others were chuckling to themselves.

El was blushing too before she looked over at Mike who seemed to be nervous as hell. 

"I mean, y-you don't have to if you don't w-want to... I can g-go alone... I mean you p-probably had a g-guy in mind already and..."

El shut him up with a sudden kiss, sealing the deal. Both were blushing like crazy when she pulled away.

Mike was stuttering nonsense for ten seconds before she turned his face and looked him dead in the eye.

"Hell yes Mike. I'll go to homecoming with you." She said, a smile bursting from her face.

He started to grin and hugged her tight. "Oh my god... thank god... yessssss." He stuttered, talking into her shoulder.

Meanwhile Dustin, Max, Lucas, and Will's phones were blowing up with messages from eachother.

-

Will: BENNY MY BOIIII

Lucas: you got him to make her a personal waffle thing for mike's proposal????

Will: lmao yeah

Will: el and i used to come here all the time, benny is like a family friend. i called in a favor and he agreed.

Will: HOLY SHIT A;SLDFJAS;DLFKJ;LJ

Max: OH MY GOD

Max: OH MY GOD SHE JUST

Max: HOLY SHIT

Dustin: SHE JUST FUCKING KISSED HIM

Dustin: WHEELER IS NO LONGER A LIP VIRGIN

Dustin: I REPEAT

Dustin: MICHAEL JACOB WHELEER IS NO LONGER A LIP VIRGIN

Lucas: yesssssSSSSS THEY KISSED

Max: OH MY GOD THIS IS RELATIONSHIP GOALS

Max: WATCH THEM DUSTIN, YOU COULD LEARN SOME THINGS

Lucas: OMG BURNNNNN

Will: smh you just got ROASTED dustin lmaooooo

Dustin: SHUT UP MAX YOU KNOW YOU LOVE ME

Max: HELL YEAH DUSTIN

-

Then Max and Dustin were kissing while El and Mike sat there in the booth.

She turned to him, her brown eyes shimmering in the retro neon light. "So... was this a first date?" She asked.

Mike smirked. "Hopefully the first of many." He replied, putting his arm around her loosely while they began to share the first of many dates and the first of many plates of waffles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mike and Lucas' numbers combine to form 1983... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	4. I Just Need to See Your Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weekend isn't going by quickly enough... and that's something both Mike and El thought they'd never think in their entire life. For the first time, they can't wait to get to school and see eachother again.

Mike flopped into his bed that night, his heart bursting with pride and emotion and absolutely everything he could possibly be feeling that was good. He didn't know El that well, but he could tell they were definitely going somewhere. He didn't know what he was feeling but it was incredible. He longed to see her face. He couldn't wait to get to know everything about her. He wanted to know her bad habits and favorite movies, the way she danced, how it felt to hold her. 

He shook his head lightly. He was getting ahead of himself.

The night had come to a good end. Dustin took Max home and went back to his own house, while Will, El, Lucas, and Mike all went to Will's house to see him off. After that, Lucas waited a little while for Mike to take El home on his own, not telling him that he was stopped by the corner of Maple and Hawthorn, waiting for his friend to get back. "LET THE SHIP SAIL" was blowing up on his phone, Max, Dustin, and Will were all buzzing with recaps of the night. 

As for Mike? Well, he took El all the way back to her house and hugged her before leaving. He remembered the way the words danced on his tongue. "Night El." He had said, turning to face her once more before he left. 

She looked right back and him and said in an almost-whisper. "Night, Mike." Before she closed the door.

He biked himself home, his heart in a flurry. That's how he ended up staring at the ceiling at 11:30 pm with a dopey grin on his face.

-

El closed the door gently behind her, feeling like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Mike  _fucking_ Wheeler was an amazing person and she had never even realized it. They didn't even know that much about eachother. Still, she longed to know more. She wanted to experience what it felt like to hold his hand, she wanted to know what he thought about at 3 am, his favorite songs, the adorable little things that made him... well, him.

She sighed happily, humming some random song on the radio's tune to herself while she closed her eyes. El couldn't ignore the smile that had blossomed on her face, nor the fact that her heart had been pounding in her chest for what felt like hours.

He'd been so gentlemanly. He walked her to the door, held it for her, and then left after saying goodnight. She couldn't believe she'd just only met him. Thank god for Homecoming, right?

El heard a quick buzz and looked over as her phone illuminated on top of her bedside table, casting a bright, white light through the room.

-

Unknown Number and El

-

Unknown: Hey El

El: Who is this???

Unknown: oh my god lmao sorry its mike

El: Ohhh hey lmao

El: Let me add your contact

-

Mike and El

-

El: Okay, done.  

Mike: lol thanks

Mike: Please tell me it doesnt say anything stupid

El: Of course not

El: Just "Dumbass Who Thought I'd Say No To Homecoming", and I think it's a very fitting name!

Mike: Lmao El nooooo

El: I'm totally kidding lol

El: Oh shoot my dad's coming, I have to go to bed

El: I'll see you on Monday, Mike!

Mike: See you, El :)

-

El bit her lip, a light blush crossing her cheeks as she quickly turned her phone back off and put it on the nightstand, turning over in her bed and pulling the covers up to her chin as Hopper opened the door to check on her and make sure she was asleep. She shut her eyes as she heard him moving closer before he kissed her on the cheek and then left. El finally relaxed when the door closed.

Hopper had done that every day since before she could remember. After all, he was her father, and El couldn't have asked for a better one.

She felt herself drifting off to sleep earlier than she thought she would, with the thought of Mike still fresh on her mind.

-

Saturday came quickly for the couple, both of them respectively going through their days without any problems. Except for the fact that they'd trip over themselves every time the phone buzzed, which was quite frequent. They didn't want to admit that they were both dying to see eachother again. The weekend was not going by quickly enough.

El and Mike still had no idea about that stupid group chat that Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Will were all in. The new couple wouldn't find out for a while.

El was working on her homework, and Mike was out with his sister when they decided to have a phone call.

-

Mike pushed Holly on the swings once more before she got her headstart and swung on her own. He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and picked it up, answering the call.

"Hey, El." He said nonchalantly.

"Hey, Mike." She replied, and he could finally hear her sweet voice again. It was gentle like a summer breeze but silky too. He decided that he definitely liked her voice. 

"So, wait... I can't remember if we have any classes together or not." El said awkwardly. She was moving around in the background, Mike could hear the static buzzing.

"I think we have third period Honors Bio and then also fifth period Honors English and sixth, Honors History." He murmured, thinking to himself before switching sides, holding his phone to his ear with his left hand and pushing Holly with his right.

El chuckled into the phone. "Someone did his research, didn't he?" She joked lightly. "Hey, don't we have a quiz in English on Monday? Maybe we could study together." She suggested.

Mike grinned to himself. "Someone's looking for excuses to see me, isn't she?" He said into the phone, and he could almost picture El's blush in his mind.

She was definitely blushing. "Oh shut up, Mike. I don't want to fail." She said, biting her lip lightly. They both knew she actually just wanted to see him. El had an A in that class and she had already been over the study guide three times. She was a straight-A student. She practically had no chance of failing anyways.

Well, he wanted to see her too.

"Oh, alright, just because you're the cutest Homecoming date on the planet and I have nothing better to do." He joked with a light chuckle, running his hand through his raven hair while Holly swung through the air, giggling. It was funny- he looked nothing like either of his parents, or his siblings. While Mike Wheeler had dark, pitch black hair, freckles, and ambery-brown eyes, Nancy had mousy brown hair and blue eyes. Holly had blonde hair and hazel eyes. Karen Wheeler had dirty blonde, nearly brown hair and blue eyes, while Ted had brown hair and brown eyes. People definitely noticed, but no one ever said anything.

After around ten minutes of shamelessly flirting with El, Holly fell off of the swing and begun to cry. They quickly exchanged a goodbye as he went to take care of his sister.

El put her phone on the nightstand, her heart swelling with pride at the thought of her boyfriend taking care of his little sister. He was just so sweet. Wait...  _boyfriend_??? No, no, no! El and Mike were friends with something more who happened to be going to Homecoming together. They were NOT dating... yet.

Sunday rolled around after even more constant texting and the couple had planned on meeting at El's house to study for their English quiz. It had gone very smoothly... until El opened the door and Hopper realized that El's "study buddy" was a boy.

The two ended up having a quick introduction before El and Mike awkwardly wandered back into her bedroom. El flopped onto her bed with her notes splayed out around her while Mike took a seat in her desk chair, both going over their notes for a solid hour and a half before they realized there was no possible way for them to fail and they weren't even discussing English anymore. Bu the end of that hour Mike had also scooted over and was sitting on El's bed with her.

She sighed and closed her book after deciding she was prepared. That's when she looked up and they locked eyes. A furious blush spread across El's cheeks like a wildfire and it was on Mike's, too. They hadn't realized just how close they had actually gotten. Only an inch or two separated their waiting lips and hungry eyes before he closed the distance and held her cheek with one hand, the other gently resting on her waist. El's hands found their way to his neck and the two just sat there in a blissful session of making out before hesitantly pulling away, El biting her lip just after and Mike doing the same thing.

They met eachother's gaze again and El was smiling. "So... I think we're definitely going to pass that English quiz..."

Mike grinned. "Yeah, perhaps. But maybe we should go over the section of the book where the guy asks the girl to go on a date with him after school on Monday and she says yes?"

El tilted her head. "I don't remember reading about that..." she murmured, lost in thought. After a moment she realized something else. "Wait a second, we aren't even reading a book in English!" She gasped, looking over at him.

Mike chuckled, running one of his hands through her hair. "El... wanna go on a date? Tomorrow afternoon? If your schedule works, of course." He said softly.

El couldn't help her smile. "Of course, Mike. Where though?" 

"Just meet me in the quad after school by the area Lucas asked Hannah to Homecoming. I'll be waiting there. Don't worry about where we're going." Mike answered with a soft smile, rubbing her cheek gently with his thumb before leaning in again and giving her a peck on the lips.

"I have to get home, my mom's gonna get suspicious. I asked Lucas to be my alibi but he's probably going to snitch to embarrass me in front of her." Mike said with a light laugh and El giggled. 

"See you, Mike." She murmured, looking up at him.

"Bye, El."


End file.
